Key Messages
How Warren Buffett’S Values And Culture Can Help Your Company Thrive Well After He’S Gone
The Berkshire Beyond Buffett Book Summary is an informative read into how a distinctive corporate culture can make a company successful, even after its leader has gone.
Warren Buffett’s leadership at Berkshire Hathaway is the perfect example of this.
Despite his formidable presence, he has instilled core values and principles that have resulted in a successful corporate culture which sets it apart from others.
It goes to show that investing in the development of a sound corporate culture led by principles such as orienting employees to their ultimate dream, empowering junior managers with decision-making responsibilities, and preparing for succession will ensure that any company will remain successful for years to come.
The Legacy Of Berkshire Hathaway: How The Company’S Unique Corporate Culture Unifies An Incredibly Diverse Portfolio
Berkshire Hathaway’s subsidiaries are incredibly diverse in almost every measurable way, but what truly binds them together is their shared core values.
One of the company’s main core values is eternality.
This emphasizes the importance of long-term partnerships and collaboration, conveying a strong message that they offer subsidiaries a place to find a permanent home.
The fact that Berkshire Hathaway considers itself more than just a financial partner is evident in the portfolios of companies it handpicks for its portfolio.
These vary wildly from car insurers to transcontinental railroads and global energy suppliers, showing that it values quality over quantity.
Though these companies may differ greatly on paper, their commonalities are found in forms like bonds of trust that cannot be measured in monetary terms alone.
Thus, Berkshire Havathaway creates its own unique corporate culture born out of these “eternal” attitudes, demonstrating how much gets accomplished when everyone shares the same goals and values.
Berkshire Hathaway’S Commitment To Budget Consciousness And Earnestness
At the foundation of the Berkshire Hathaway philosophy are two core values that help guide every decision it makes: budget consciousness and earnestness.
The first, budget consciousness, is evident in the company’s stake in GEICO, a car insurance provider that practices frugality and operational efficiency to pass as much savings as possible onto its customers while still bringing in premium volume.
Meanwhile, earnestness is at the heart of companies such as National Indemnity Company (NICO), which places an emphasis on ensuring their insurance policies embody a promise of quality over anything else.
Following 9/11, NICO wrote several large-scale terrorism policies that other providers weren’t willing or able to offer due to the risks involved for premium rewards.
These two values make up the essence of Berkshire Hathaway’s approach and demonstrate why being budget conscious and keeping promises can be very rewarding in business!
The Value Of Investing In Reputation And Kinship: How Berkshire Hathaway Reaps The Rewards
It is quite remarkable that a company as large and successful as Berkshire Hathaway derives so much of its success from the strength of its reputation and family ties.
Berkshire Hathaway’s ability to invest in the value of reputation has certainly paid off for one of their subsidiaries, Jordan’s Furniture.
Jordan’s Furniture has managed to nearly six times the industry average, something which can be attributed to their unique approach to customer service.
Not only do shoppers have access to top-notch products and prompt delivery -they also get the special ‘shoppertainment’ experience found in stores with things like flight simulations and a model Bourbon Street.
On top of this, Berkshire Hathaway has also demonstrated how powerful kinship bonds can lead to great business deals.
For instance, regardless of rival offers they were able to acquire family business RC Willey Home Furnishings by understanding the importance of permanent relationships and appreciating the strengths that come from being a family-run enterprise.
It goes without saying, strong reputation and solid family ties have been hugely beneficial for Berkshire Hathaway over the years!
Warren Buffett Showed Entrepreneurship Could Transform Businesses, And Berkshire Hathaway Lives On By Empowering Self-Starters
At Berkshire Hathaway, self-starters and entrepreneurial thinkers thrive under the company’s hands-off management policy.
Warren Buffett established a culture of acquisitions that start with a small business, but can eventually grow into huge corporations.
That same spirit inspires the company’s culture today— executives are expected to be self motivated and able to run the business on their own.
This is demonstrated by several Horatio Alger award winners who have achieved success despite adversity.
One such winner is Albert Lee Ueltschi; at 16, he opened a hamburger stand and used the profits to finance his flying schooling.
His love of flight led him to teach others how to fly and eventually create FlightSafety International, which joined Berkshire Hathaway in 1996.
Unlike many businesses that are bogged down by committees and meetings, BerkshireHathaway chooses a decentralized, autonomous approach in its decision making process.
Where other businesses rely on layers of messaging and control systems, in Berkshire managers only need permission on mission critical decisions from headquarters home to two dozen staff members.
Berkshire Hathaway’S Acquisition Strategy Of Identifying Companies With A Similar Organizational Culture And Permanence For Long-Term Value
When it comes to making great investments, the team at Berkshire Hathaway understands the importance of staying savvy and keeping it simple.
That’s why they have subsidiaries that are great at acquiring companies with potentially high returns – that have an organizational culture that fits their own.
Subsidiaries like Chemical company Lubrizol can even scout out talented scientists and business managers who’d be a good fit while also increasing research and development capabilities.
Moreover, the subsidiaries of Berkshire take care to acquire businesses whose core values match their own, such as trust and partnership, which helps attract companies without having to make the highest bid.
The firm mainly looks for those businesses which are easy to understand – basic industries that have been around for many years and so there is less risk involved than newer forms of industry or exotics fields.
This approach has worked well for them in the past as most of their acquisitions have increased over time because of their due diligence and successful management of these investments.
A key part of Business Hathaway’s operationsg benefits from its subsidiaries’ ability to evaluate potential investments effectively.
Ensuring The Eternal Success Of Berkshire Hathaway After Warren Buffett’S Departure
Berkshire Hathaway is known for its commitment to longevity and eternality, which has kept Warren Buffett’s company going for more than 60 years.
Even as Buffett gets closer to retirement, Berkshire has always planned with the long term in mind.
The company has established a succession plan that splits Buffett’s job between two roles: management and investment.
To handle the investment side of things, Berkshire recruited Todd Combs and Ted Weschler – both of whom have since exceeded even Buffett’s performance when it comes to investing!
For the role of manager and chief executive officer, the most suitable candidates would be existing Berkshire employees who understand the culture within the company; seeing as they are already familiar with it.
Frank Ptak, chief executive officer at the Marmon Group since 2006, is one such candidate with over 40 years of business experience under his belt.
The Marmon Group: What We Can Learn From Its Long-Term Success After The Passing Of Its Founders
The Marmon Group is an interesting source of insight for Berkshire Hathaway as they look to their future.
As both Marmon Group and Berkshire Hathaway have similar core values, it was no surprise that when Marmon Group became a part of Berkshire in 2008, it fit right in.
Despite the passing of Jay and Robert Pritzker – its founders – Marmon Group has continued to thrive, buying up more than 100 companies over time and still operating much as it did decades ago.
This serves as a valuable succession lesson for Berkshire Hathaway to take into consideration.
Even after Warren Buffett turns 85 years old next year, many believe that Berkshire can remain successful if it sticks close to its core values as Marmon Group did when its founders passed away.
With Frank Ptak at the helm since 2003 and his leadership, we may gain further assurance that this might be possible.
Wrap Up
The final message in the book “Berkshire Beyond Buffett” is that Berkshire Hathaway’s success is rooted in its core values, which are budget consciousness, earnestness and kinship.
Warren Buffett has been able to create a legacy of savvy investing and strong performance in many industries by abiding by these core values and providing hands-off management philosophy.
Ultimately, it underscores the importance of developing a set of governing principles like the one Berkshire Hathaway established for your own company – whether that’s through incorporating them into your name or constructing them separately – in order for business endeavors to achieve long-term success.
